Fullmetal High
by BandGeek99
Summary: Winry and Edward are just two Central High students trying to make it through. Edward wants to help his brother. Winry wants to work on automail. But they might need each other more than they know. Edwin! Rated for typical bando antics and for Ed's mouth.
1. First Day

Fullmetal High – by BandGeek99

**Sorry this is so long, I couldn't find a place to break it... Oopsies!**

**Anyway... FMA re-written in a nineteen-eighties styled high school setting. That means jank computers and jank TV. This is as advanced as technology will be getting. Set in 1917 still. (How does THAT work?)**

**Anyway. Rated for Bando Antics, Ed's mouth and future violence. (What is a story without homunculi, right?)**

**I mean no offence to bandos. I AM a bando. But this is the way it is sometimes.**

**If anybody can get the other anime references, please say in a review! Cameo appearences for those who get it!**

**And see if you can guess who I put myself in as! (It shouldn't be that hard XD)**

**---**

**BLOCK SCHEDULING:**

There are four blocks, each 90 minutes long. C block is split in half for people in band/chorus. One has Band for forty-five minutes, then lunch for twenty five, then a study/language/chorus for forty-five as well.

Hope this helps!

**---**

_So… the English room is… the next left…? Oh, shit, no that's my trigonometry class… Oh, crap, where the hell am I?_ Winry Rockbell stared at her school map intently, willing it to lead the way to her B block class.

When she'd moved from the small, country town of Risembool to the city of Central, she wasn't quite prepared to be so confused on her first day of classes. The whole school was a square, every way you looked it was exactly the same, and there were almost a thousand students trying to fit through hallways that were far too small for the abuse.

So far, Winry only knew where her advanced shop class was after her fast orientation, and since it was her A-block class, IT WAS UNDERSTANDABLE. But beyond that… Winry was clueless.

People jostled her back and forth in every direction as she tried to make her way forward, clutching her binders, her map, and her lucky wrench as though her life depended on it.

As she passed each classroom, she checked the small signs outside each one, watching for room 218.

_ROOM 218_

_A – HAWKEYE, ENGLISH 11H_

_B – HAWKEYE, ENGLISH 11A_

_C – MATSUZAKA, XINGESE II_

_D – HAWKEYE, ENGLISH 11B_

She gave a small sigh of relief, pushing through the crowd to the room and wrenching the door open. Hastily, she slid into the room and made her way to a desk at the back, near one of the windows overlooking the city.

There were a few students there already, but they did nothing but glance up at her idly before returning to their activities.

A young blonde woman sat behind the desk at the front of the dull, blandly decorated room. Her hair was pinned back, save for her side swept bangs, and she was dressed sensibly in a black top and black slacks. Her russet eyes were focused on the top form in a stack of paperwork and Winry gulped when she noticed a small handgun sitting beside the pile.

_Oh, no, I'm so screwed… I'm going to get shot, I just know it…_

More students filed into the small classroom and took seats near their friends, away from the lonely blonde mechanic in the corner. All the students, that is, except for one girl. She had deeply tanned skin, rather like the people of the Ishballan race, brown eyes, and wavy brown hair with bangs dyed a bright pink. She saw Winry by the window and waved before plopping into a seat across the aisle. "Hi!" she said. "I'm Rose Thomas."

Winry smiled nervously. Though she didn't have the trademark eyes, there was a chance this girl was still an Ishballan, and Winry had heard that the people were still very touchy about what had happened to their city. "Uh, hi. I'm Winry Rockbell."

"You new to Central?" Rose asked knowingly.

"Uh, yeah, I'm from Risembool. My grandmother brought me out here to open a mechanic's shop. You know, automail and prosthetics, cars, stuff like that."

Rose smiled. "So that explains your wrench!"

The blonde looked down and noticed that her fingers were still clenched tightly around the tool. She laughed nervously. "Eh heh… yeah… I guess it does."

"I moved here last year from Lior with my boyfriend Kain," Rose said, tugging her bangs ever so slightly. "He's a senior, a year or two older than us. So, are you nervous for your first day?"

Winry nodded, letting out a scared chuckle. "You could say that."

Rose nodded with empathy. "The first day is always the hardest, but don't worry. After that it gets much easier. Most of the people at this school are really nice, so I wouldn't worry about making friends. Oh, and my friend Paninya, she's from Rush Valley, anyway, she's really into mechanics and automail and stuff so… Oh. I guess I'm rambling, aren't I?" Rose giggled in embarrassment and looked down at the scratched top of her desk, blushing crazily. "Sorry."

Winry felt any uneasiness she had once held fly away and she grinned at the other girl. "Don't sweat it. It happens."

"Would you all please sit and quiet down, please?" the blonde teacher asked briskly, standing and putting her handgun in her holster. "I'd like to begin class."

The students did as they were told, the handgun not going unnoticed.

"My name is Lt. Riza Hawkeye, and I'm a long-term substitute for the fair part of this year. I know that your usual teacher was rather easy-going… I will warn you now. I am not." The lieutenant's gaze traveled over each pupil, making them shift uncomfortably in their seats. "I expect work to be quality, done diligently and on time. I will do my best to help you succeed. But you must put in the effort yourselves. After all; I don't give grades. You earn them."

This cliché line sounded ominous and foreboding coming from Hawkeye.

"I know that most of you have been in the same class as each other for a while, so I feel the need to introduce our newest student. Winry Rockbell, would you please stand?"

Winry felt the blood rush to her face as she stood, still holding her wrench in her hands. She gave everyone a nervous smile and waved.

"Winry is a new student from Risembool. Please do your best to make her feel comfortable here. Winry, why don't you tell us a little about yourself?" Hawkeye patiently watched her student, whose blush grew even deeper.

"Er… Well, I'm from Risembool. I live with my grandmother… we moved to Central to start a mechanic's shop. We make prosthetics, I specialize in automail, we work on car engines, that sort of thing. Er… I'm in marching band, I guess, and um… yeah. That's all I can think of right now." She sat down hastily, willing her seat to disappear through the floor. _Way to go, Rockbell… You sure know how to make an idiot of yourself..._

The door slammed open and a boy stood there, panting and leaning on the doorframe for support. He was blonde and maybe an inch taller than she was; he didn't look like a junior, that was for sure.

Hawkeye cocked her eyebrow. "May I help you?"

"Yeah, Lt, is this English 11-A?" the boy asked, straightening up a bit and pushing some of his bangs out of his face.

"Ah, Edward Elric, nice of you to join us. Yes, this is English 11-A. Please take your seat."

Edward (was that his name?) sighed and obeyed. He slid into one of the seats at the back of the room, putting his feet on the desk and folding his arms across his chest, watching the teacher with mild interest.

Hawkeye glared at him for a moment before shaking her head and beginning with the curriculum she'd written out for the day.

Winry tried to listen, but she felt her eyes wandering to the boy, Edward, the lowerclassman who'd somehow managed to get into their class.

He was gorgeous, if you asked her. She'd never seen hair or eye color, like his: perfectly golden, not a trace of any other color there. It was beautiful, but slightly unnerving. He didn't wear the usual sort of clothing that one would have expected from a high-schooler. Instead, he donned a pair of black pants, black boots, white gloves, and a black shirt under a long red trench coat. If this weren't strange enough, there was a cross with a snake entwined into it, topped with a crown and wings sewn onto the back of his jacket. It was a most curious sight. His brow was furrowed and his eyes were drifting down to a notebook on his desk.

Drawings filled it; not ordinary drawings of things that a typical guy would like, such as cars or devious plots to burn down the school, but circles. Intricate circles with patterns and drawings inside them. Scribbled writing was jotted beside each one, and Winry assumed it was his. What it said, however, was beyond her.

An hour later, the bell rang, marking the end of the second ninety-minute block and the sign that she should move onto C-block.

"So, who's that lowerclassman who showed up today?" Winry asked Rose quietly as the two headed into the sea of students.

"Oh, that's Edward. And you know, he's actually a junior, too," Rose said with a laugh, poking Winry's shoulder.

The blonde girl felt her jaw drop to the bowels of the Earth. "Whaaaa?!" she shrieked loudly. Her books and wrench fell to the floor and several people turned to give her a strange look.

"Just cuz he's short, doesn't mean he can't be our age. In fact, most of his classes are already college level. They call him a prodigy." The brunette bent to the floor to help Winry gather her things. "And yeah, he's really good-looking, but he never dates anyone. Apparently, according to Scieszka, he's focusing on finding a cure for his brother or something."

Winry's brow furrowed as she shuffled along next to her new friend. "A cure for his brother?"

"Mm-hm, apparently he's got some really weird, rare disease that they don't have a cure for, and so Edward's been working really hard by taking all kinds of science courses to find one. Their mom died a while back and they both took it really hard, I guess. They're all they have."

She nodded and glanced back down at her map. "Do you know where the music room is? I have band for C-5."

"It's right by the front entrance. Do you know how to get there?"

Winry nodded, even though she really didn't. Well, she had a vague idea, but she was always bad with directions.

Rose smiled and waved goodbye. "Hope you have second lunch; I'll see you then!"

"Bye!"

Edward sighed when he pushed open the door of the band room.

People were scattered about, playing loudly or talking with their friends. Percussionists stood at the back, banging out their cadence, while piccolo players tried to blow out each other's ears with their obnoxiously high instruments.

Edward watched the drummers pump out their beats and sighed. Back before… the incident, Alphonse had been a percussionist. He had always wanted to be in the drum line when he got to high school; but it never happened.

"Hey, Elric, get out your horn and meet us in the practice room for a sectional!" someone shouted and Ed sighed.

"Shaddup, Russell, I'll get there when I get there," he hollered back, waving his hand dismissively. He turned the corner just after the door and opened the small, compact locker on the bottom row, pulling out a case about ten inches high and fourteen inches long. The blonde reverently set it on the floor and opened it, smiling.

It was a trumpet that had been locked away in the attic for years, ever since Al had quit, saying he'd much rather play rhythm than brass. After the incident, Al could no longer play, but Ed took it up, though he wasn't sure why.

"Uh… I guess this is the band room…"

The prodigy glanced up to see the nervous looking blonde from his English class standing beside the long row of lockers, looking around.

"Yeah, welcome to the smallest band in Amestris. There are only sixty five people. We're the Central High Marching Band, the Spartans. Stupid name, really, but I guess I don't really know enough about mythology to appreciate." Ed shrugged. "I'm Ed Elric. Which section are you in?"

"Er… Saxophone…"

"Did I hear saxophone?"

Both students turned to the corner where a quiet, Xingese boy sat, huddled in a dark black cloak.

"Er… yes…?"

The boy stood and grinned evilly, light touching no part of his face other than his mouth. "I am Nekozawa," he said, his voice thickly accented. "And this is my puppet. Beelzenef." His hand shot out from under the cloak with a small hand puppet adorning it.

Ed sighed. "Ignore him. He's the drum minor, but he still has no idea what he's doing. And he's been trying to con every single saxophonist into playing bari sax."

Nekozawa gasped and tears fell down his face and out the hood. "He doesn't like us, Beelzenef! How rude!"

Winry had seen plenty of crazies in her lifetime, but this topped it; the puppet began to stroke its master's head _of its own accord_.

"Your section leader is that girl over there with the pink leggings," Ed said dully, pointing to a girl in the corner with long, brown teased hair in a side pony. "Just don't piss her off."

The blonde girl nodded warily and watched him pick up his trumpet and walk away, hearing the quiet but noticeable clicking of low-grade automail joints.

"Er, Ed!" she called after him, hoping to ask him about it.

He looked over his shoulder. "Yeah?"

"Er… Who's your mechanic?" she asked him, pointing at her left leg.

His golden eyes widened and he hissed, "It's none of your business!" before turning and striding away to the practice room.

Winry was taken aback. That only confirmed that he had automail. But… "Why hide it?" she murmured to herself. Her eyes grew dreamy and her stance slackened as she thought of it. "The hiss of hydraulics, the beautiful sheen of the metal… Automail is the most wonderful machinery in the world!"

"Glad to see you think so," a new, very feminine voice said with a laugh.

Winry spun around to see a brunette girl with short brown hair, round glasses, and a bright smile on her face standing beside her. "Er…"

"I'm Scieszka, I'm the drum major," the girl said, holding out her hand.

"Winry Rockbell, alto sax." They shook hands.

"You play alto, huh?" Scieszka asked.

"Yeah, since fourth grade."

The mood suddenly changed and Scieszka's smile became evil and plotting. "Would you consider switching to bari?"

"B…bari sax, you mean?"

"Why, of course. Ours just quit a week ago. Conveniently, though, you transferred here… What do you say?"

Winry considered it for a moment. She had been playing saxophone forever, maybe it was time for a change… "Um, sure, why not?"

Scieszka began jumping up and down, cheering loudly. "Yes, yes, yes!! I'll go get Major Hughes, he's the band instructor this year, and he's gonna be so happy!! BAAAH!!" The brunette grabbed Winry's arm and tugged her across the room to the band office where two men stood chatting about something or other.

"Honestly, Roy, why don't you get yourself a good wife? Maybe that'll help you handle all the stress from work," the first laughed, slapping his friend on the back. He had short cropped black hair, save one piece that hung out in front of his face. Winry wondered why he had it; it looked ridiculous.

The second groaned and rubbed his temple. "I don't need a wife. You're the one who gives me all these headaches in the first place." He was slightly shorter than the first man with messy black hair. Winry would have almost gone so far as to say he was handsome. But that would have just been weird, seeing as he was probably in his mid-late twenties and she was sixteen.

"Er, Major Hughes, Lt-Col. Mustang?" Scieszka said quietly, rapping her knuckles gently on the open door. "I have a new bari sax player."

The first man with the ridiculous haircut shrieked in delight and ran to Scieszka, grabbing her in a massive hug. "Oh, you are my _hero_, you found one!! Ah haaaa!"

The other man, Roy, sighed and shook his head.

The man who had glomped the drum major set her down and turned to Winry, beaming. "And who's this?"

"Er, I'm Winry Rockbell; I'm going to play bari."

He squealed (yes, squealed) loudly and grabbed her hands, jumping up and down. "I love you, I love you, I loooove yoooou!" he cried.

Roy approached the three and whacked the man upside the head. "Maes, calm down."

Scieszka laughed. "This is Lt.-Col. Mustang, and Major Hughes is the one who's so thrilled about the news."

"N-nice to meet you," Winry managed, smiling nervously.

"And you," Mustang said cordially, bowing slightly. "I'm sorry about my comrade, here. He's not terribly bright when something gets him excited."

"I resent that, Roy," Maes whined, letting go of Winry's hands and folding his arms across his chest.

"More like you _resemble_ it," Roy said nonchalantly, leaning against one of the two desks crammed in the closet-like office.

Hughes huffed and turned back to the two students. "Well, whatever. Anyway, I'm Major Maes Hughes, band instructor this year, and this is my partner in crime, Lt.-Col. Roy Mustang, the percussion director."

Roy nodded his head.

"Anyway, I suppose you'd better meet Katerina, she's your section leader. That's the girl with the plaid skirt and the side-pony," Maes said, pointing out the door and across the classroom to a girl standing near a piano in the corner, gently fingering something out on it. "She's a good kid. Kind of crazy sometimes, keeps hearing all these songs and seeing colors in her head, she says… But that's just the way she is."

Winry didn't feel any more at ease.

Scieszka took Winry by the arm and led her over to said girl, who stood playing something quiet and sad. She kept murmuring the notes quietly to herself as she went along. Her nose wrinkled whenever she hit a wrong note and she hastily corrected herself and continued on a bit more.

"Hey, Trina, I have our new bari player!" Scieszka sang, still obviously way too happy for her own good.

Katerina looked up and smiled at Winry. "Hi. Nice to meet you, I'm Katerina, but a lot of people call me Trina."

"Oooor Rina-chaaan!" a new voice sang, giggling madly.

Katerina sighed. "Oh, great. Here comes the Idiot Brigade."

"Rina-chan, that hurts! Why are you so mean?" the voice demanded and Winry saw it belonged to a petite girl with short reddish-brown hair and bright green eyes.

"Roy-chan, shut up," Katerina sighed.

The girl, Roy-chan, pouted. "Don't make me go ninja on your ass, man."

"Aw, I'm just kidding, Emerald, you know that!"

The other girl rolled her eyes and sighed.

Winry took in her appearance. She was very wild, with her hair spiked with hairspray, bright turquoise-and-fuchsia outfit, and striped leg-warmers.

"This is the percussion section leader, Emerald Smutler," Scieszka said knowingly, pushing her glasses up on her nose. "She's a senior this year, just like Trina."

Trina and Emerald exchanged high-fives.

"We did it, Mommy," Emerald said happily.

"We sure did, Daddy," Trina giggled in reply.

"We're section leaders!"

"We're seniors!"

"We've made it!"

"WIN!"

"Uber-awesome-thumbs-up-YEAH!" they both chanted, putting both thumbs up and grinning madly.

Winry felt her fingers reaching for her wrench… _Must… defend myself… from the crazy monsters…Think of automail! Yes, you must live… You must defeat the crazies for the sake of automail!_ With a renewed energy, Winry set her jaw and whacked both girls in the head with a wrench.

They both cringed and yelped loudly, causing the low brass section to pause and look over.

"What the hell was that for, you nut?!" Katerina demanded, rubbing her swollen forehead. Tears welled in her eyes and she bit her lip fiercely, willing herself not to cry.

"You two are seniors! Grow up and act like the young adults you're supposed to be!" Winry hollered, brandishing her wrench in a violent manner.

"Y-yes, Winry-sama…" Emerald stuttered, shrinking to hide behind Trina.

"And quit it with the Xingese honorific crap!" she snapped, holding her wrench threateningly.

"Yes, ma'am, of course, ma'am," Trina managed, saluting stiffly.

Winry scowled at them and huffed away.

The rest of the day flew by. In addition to receiving a new instrument about twice the size of her, Winry had made a small cluster of new friends that included Scieszka, the bookworm of a drum major, Trina and Emerald, the two insane section leaders, and Rose, the quiet runaway with a big heart. With that came Kain, Rose's boyfriend, Josh, Trina's boyfriend, Meghan, a girl Trina knew from chorus, and Scieszka's friend Catherine Armstrong, whose older brother was in the military. Winry was fond of them all, but the whole day she couldn't stop thinking about Edward Elric, the mysterious boy who was hiding his automail.

Why would he hide automail? It wasn't something that one would normally freak out about. Actually, after the civil dispute in the East, a lot of people had prosthetics to replace limbs that had been lost in the fighting. Winry had been good friends with people in Risembool her age that had a prosthetic hand or leg. In fact, a couple of her classmates had even endured the automail surgery in an effort to live more normally.

She sighed as she meandered down Elm Street, the center roadway of the whole city. Cars sped one way and the other, pedestrian littering the streets, and the whole place seemed to be alive with something that Winry couldn't quite put her finger on.

"I'm going to watch that fight this afternoon," she heard one woman say to another as she stopped outside a hardware store.

"Ooh, I heard they're calling it 'Fullmetal vs. Flame'," her companion giggled. "So silly, though, that they'd name a fight."

"Isn't it that Fullmetal's yearly assessment?" the first asked and Winry, nose pressed to the glass of the shop window, felt her interest peak.

"Indeed it is. It's hard to believe that the Fuhrer King is actually supporting this, though. An alchemy battle! Honestly, one of those men is liable to get themselves killed."

"Would you honestly care if one of them _did_ die?"

Winry's brow furrowed. She knew where these women were coming from, but honestly! Did they have to wish death upon those poor military officers?

"Er, scuse me, missy, but we're closin' up early today, on account'a the fight goin' on down at the military HQ. So, er, if yeh don't plan on buyin' anythin', would you mind comin' back on another day?" A man poked his head out the door and scratched the back of his head in embarrassment.

Winry let out a small puff of air. "Yeah, sure. I'm so sorry, but I'll be back tomorrow!"

The man grinned, revealing several missing teeth. "Ah hah! That's what I like to hear!" He chuckled heartily and waved. "Good afternoon, missy."

She gave a smile and small wave in a sign of "goodbye" and headed back down the street towards her and her grandmother's automail shop.

Pinako stood outside, her pipe in her mouth, and she waved to her granddaughter when she approached. "Winry, welcome home."

"Hey, Granny!" The girl smiled toothily and hugged the small woman. "Sorry I took, I stopped at a hardware store."

"S'fine. I'm closing early today, I'm going to go down to the military parade grounds and watch the fight," Pinako said with a grin. "You should come with, it'll be fun."

Winry was slightly abashed that her grandmother would take pleasure in watching two state alchemists fight, possibly to the death. "But Gran… That's… absolutely barbaric!"

Pinako chuckled and put her pipe in her mouth again. "Don't worry, they're human weapons. The military would never let them die."

Winry sighed and frowned slightly. "Okay, I guess. I'll just go drop my stuff inside and I'll meet you down there."

Pinako nodded and the two went in their separate directions.


	2. Ed's New Mechanic

_Prologue to Chapter Two: the Fight!_

"Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, welcome to the biggest alchemy battle in the history of Amestris!"

Winry was slightly shocked; Major Hughes was on the loudspeaker, standing up on a podium with a microphone. He grinned madly at the audience and donned the typical blue-and-gold uniform of the Amestrian military.

Civilians (minus most of the local students) and military personnel alike shouted loudly, cheering or jeering, and Hughes ate it up.

"Today is the day… but first, let's say happy birthday to my darling little Elicia!" he shrieked, pointing to a small girl who clung to her mother near the front.

"Hey! We're here to see a fight, not sing to some little kid!" someone shouted.

Another person threw a rotting tomato up towards the podium.

Hughes chuckled nervously. "And now, in the blue corner," he segued. "The Flame Alchemist, Lieutenant-Colonel Roy Mustang, hero of the Ishballan War!"

"Boo!"

"You suck!"

"You're just doing this to get a promotion!"

"Gimme back my girlfriend!"

Mustang's eye twitched and he held his hands in the pockets of his uniform. His dark hair whipped in the wind and his dark eyes flickered across the sky.

"And in the red corner," Maes continued, pointing to the opposite side of the parade ground, "we have the Fullmetal Alchemist, Major Edwaaaard Elric!"

Winry felt her jaw drop to the ground and she bolted forward through the crowd, leaning on the rail that marked the border of the grounds.

Sure enough, there was Edward Elric from her band and English classes, standing in his usual black-and-red garb. Behind him stood a seven-foot-odd-high suit of armor.

"Ha, good luck, bean sprout."

"Knock that bastard on his ass!"

"Go ahead and try to beat him, shrimp-o!"

A vein in Ed's temple twitched.

"So, Brother, what's your strategy?" the suit of armor asked. The voice was still young and had that innocent feel to it; as if it was that of a ten, maybe eleven-year-old.

Brother… _That must be his kid brother, _Winry thought.

"I told you, Al, a fist in that bastard's face!" Edward shot back, throwing his fist in the air.

The boy in the armor sighed. "You're so reckless, Brother…"

Winry was still in shock. Edward Elric, the boy who looked no older than a freshman, was a Major in the military! This was absurd, unheard of! It was impossible!

And yet, there he was, glaring at his superior officer like there was no tomorrow.

"Three… two… one… begin!" Hughes shouted, then dashed away from the podium to the safety of the crowds.

Mustang snapped a glove finger and Winry saw a bright flash of orange flame before a streak of fire flew straight at Edward, who yelped and dodged it.

Realization dawned on the young blonde mechanic. Flame Alchemist, eh? She should have known. He'd fight with fire. _So obvious I didn't get it… Wow, I'm an idiot. The biggest idiot in all of Amestris._

Edward kept blocking the bouts of flame and eventually jumped over his younger brother into the crowds of military personnel.

"I guess I can't torch all these people…" Mustang sighed. "Oh well." Then, louder, he called, "Where did that _shrimp_ go, I wonder? What a coward."

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING A MICROSCOPIC YELLOW-BELLIED ANT?!" Ed's loud, strong voice was heard over the din of the crowd and he seemed to jump on top of other officers to be seen above them.

Mustang smirked, snapped, and sent a wall of flames towards the teenager.

There was a collective shout of "SHIT!" from the whole group near the fire and frantic running began, sending officers this way and that in avoidance of the flames.

Winry watched, fascinated, as Ed created doppelgangers out of stone, scattering them here, there, and everywhere, before finally ripping off his jacket and running around the back of Mustang, who was distracted by the dummies, and _ripping Mustang's glove with an arm that looked like a sword._ She out a small gasp. His arm was automail, too?

Internally, she squealed with joy. If she could just get him to let her make a couple of new limbs for him, everything would be perfect for her. She'd be making automail for a hot guy. A hot guy with an automail limb screamed "the perfect bad boy," and (Winry couldn't help but feel stupid for thinking this) he'd practically be hers. Almost. Sort of. Kind of. _Yeah… I wish._

The fight continued. Edward's inner topshirt was ripped off as well, leaving him in a tank top and black pants and shoes.

_I'd bet all my wrenches that he has a six pack…_

Eventually, Mustang froze up, fingers poised to snap, and Edward took the opportunity to lunge, with the blade of his arm, inches from Mustang's neck.

"That's enough of that! Well fought, both of you!" a deep, jovial voice boomed.

Both fighters snapped out of their battle stance and saluted, as did the military personnel watching.

Winry leaned forward over the rail, trying to see who it was.

_Oh, my God… It's Fuhrer King Bradley!_

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Hello, everyone! It's been a long time!

**I'm sorry this chapter took so long. The crazy holidays have held me back, though its been done for a while. I felt like something was wrong with this chapter, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. Damn… Oh, well. Chapter three will be up sometime very soon, with any luck, as it is already complete.**

**I would like to give a HUUUUGE **_THANK YOOOOOU_ **to my beta-reader, Skipper713. She has been such a help to me… Thank you… *sniffs emotionally***

**And now, without further ado, on to the show!**

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Chapter Two: Ed's New Mechanic

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Edward leaned heavily on the door to his apartment as he fumbled with the ring of keys on his school ID lanyard. "Damn it," he muttered, shoving a mismatched key into the lock. "Why can't this be easy?"

The door opened from the inside and Ed nearly fell over.

"Brother, you're finally home!" an exuberant voice cried and Edward felt a large, metallic hand holding him up.

"Yeah, Al, I'm back. Please… drop me where I am… I'll just sleep here…" Ed insisted with a yawn.

"Did you finish all of your homework assignments?" Alphonse asked sternly, supporting his older brother to the small breakfast niche where a table and two chairs stood crammed in the corner.

"Before the fight," Ed answered tiredly. "And besides, my teachers know about the situation. Can I go to bed now?"

"No, Ed, we have to make sure your automail is running smoothly. You know it doesn't do well in fights."

"I need a new mechanic," Ed muttered, taking off his jacket and top shirt and dropping them haphazardly on the floor. He rolled up his left pant leg and held out his arm expectantly, sighing tiredly and slouching in his seat. "Do what you havta. I really just want to go to bed."

Alphonse shook his helmet sadly. "Brother… You really need to take better care of yourself." His large armor fingers gently took off the shabby automail coverings and checked the wires.

Even though he wasn't quite sixteen yet, Alphonse was no stranger to the ways of the world, more specifically, the ways of a determined, pig-headed, stubborn older brother. He was wise when it came to science, to battle, and protecting his brother at all costs. He was what they called a prodigy. But he was such an idiot. A brother who was dead or over-exhausted from trying too hard was of no use to anyone, and Al never let Ed forget that.

Edward, while a very devoted parental-type unit to Alphonse, was not always the smartest when it came to taking care of himself. He usually went to school and to work sleep-deprived, he rarely ate regularly, and when he did sleep, he was never in his actual bed; he lay sprawled out on the couch with one leg draped over the back and with his shirt pulled up to his chest. More often than not, he came down with some sort of cold or infection from his automail and ended up being sick for the next few weeks. A bug that would have taken a week for a normal person to get over, though, often lasted a month for Edward because of his poor habits.

Al slid the covers on Ed's arm once more. "All set, Brother. Now you can go to bed."

But Edward had already fallen asleep at the table.

"Brother…"

* * *

The weekend could not come fast enough for either of the Elric brothers.

As soon as Friday's school session was over, Edward jumped out of his college chemistry class and bolted down the hallways towards the back entrance of the school. _Finally… this weekend, Al and I are gonna spar like crazy!_ That was the excuse he kept giving himself, though he knew he really only wanted to spend some time with the fifteen-year-old.

Edward's rucksack bounced against his back as he raced past the math classrooms and small library. He wanted so desperately to go home. Hell, he desperately wanted out of the whole idea of high school. _Damn the Fuhrer and his stupid Education Act…_

Classrooms sped by, faster and faster, and the double doors came into view. He was almost there, almost out of the hellhole he called school! He could taste the freedom, feel the happiness of being able to transmute the hell out of anything he wanted and beat the living shit out of people who annoyed him. The doors, they beckoned! They opened for him!! He was almost there, almost there, almost—

Scratch that. He was lying facedown on the floor with a painful sensation coming from the nerves in his automail leg. His joints had stiffened and the hydraulics in the limb had frozen up.

Snickers and giggles emitted from students that passed him by, obviously not caring that he was in great pain. _They probably thought I'd tripped over my own two feet… Man, I must look like an idiot._

"Well, well, looks like someone's leg gave out on them." A feminine shadow stood over Edward.

"Winry… that_ is_ your name, right? Winry?" Edward asked, rolling over to look up at her.

She nodded, waving her wrench around. "You really ought to find a better mechanic," she insisted. "And if you choose me, I'll cut down the price by half if I get to replace your arm, too."

Edward groaned and shut his eyes. "You're so pushy. Not cute at all."

Winry dropped her wrench, letting it land with dead accuracy on the very top of his head. "And you're not very nice either. So, you be nicer, I'll be cuter. And for your information, I was up for homecoming queen at my old school."

"Probably because you threatened everyone with that damn wrench of yours," Ed hissed, rubbing his head as he tried to sit up.

Winry picked up said tool and dropped it on his head once more.

"Damnit, Winry, would you cut that out?! I'm no good if my brain is dead from your stupid obsession with hitting me!" he snapped, struggling to his feet. His gloved hands relied on a nearby trashcan to pull him off of the floor.

Winry narrowed her eyes at him. "You didn't answer my question. Deal or no deal?"

"Deal, deal, just stop hitting me with that wrench!"

The blonde girl grinned in triumph. "Fine. Then you're coming to my shop today, right now, so I can get measurements and start work."

Edward stared at her, still rubbing his head. Was she clinically insane? "I can't. I have to go home, my brother is there and I promised him I'd—"

She watched him expectantly.

"I promised him I'd finally take some time off from working and spend some time with him," he said quietly, looking at his shoes and stuffing his hands into his pockets. "Its kinda rare when I get a weekend off. I work two jobs, and so I'm usually doing one thing or another."

Winry's grip on her wrench slackened a bit. "Oh," she murmured. "I… didn't know."

"I'll be by on Monday afternoon. Meet me at the front entrance after school, I'll go then. But I really do have to go. Bye, Winry." And with that, the five-and-a-half-foot blonde evaded the mechanic and made his way out the door, shoulders slouched and face down.

Winry felt like an absolute bitch.

* * *

"Brother, you're late!" Alphonse cried when Edward shoved open the door.

"Yeah, sorry, sorry," he said with a small half-smile. "My new mechanic knocked me over and almost took out my head with her wrench."

"New mechanic?" Alphonse said excitedly.

"Yeah, her name is Winry Rock-something, she just moved here. She almost killed me until I agreed to let her make me a new arm and leg."

"How did she find out?"

"My leg froze up again when I was running out the doors. She must really have an eye for automail or something, nobody else ever noticed it." By this time, the blonde alchemist had kicked off his boots and dropped his bag by the door, sliding into a chair at the table. He put his feet on the top of the table and tilted the chair back nonchalantly, swiping an apple from the basket on the table.

"Well, that's good. At least now you've got a new mechanic and a new friend." Alphonse would have smiled if he could, knowing that Edward rarely associated with people his age. No matter how much he was liked by a crowd, the blonde was always separate, never really fitting into the carefree stage that others around him were going through.

"Hey, I never said I wanted to be friends with the psycho," Edward pointed out, taking a loud bite out of his apple. "She's just my mechanic."

Alphonse sighed. "Brother… You know you need to learn to get along with other people, right?"

"I don't need other people. I have you, Al, and frankly, that's all I need."

The younger shook his head, pouring a glass of pomegranate juice into a glass for his sibling. "Brother, you can't just lean on me forever. When I get my body back, you'll _have_ to talk to other people."

"I'll cross that bridge when I come to it," Ed decided. He gave the glass of purple juice a look. "What are you pouring _that_ for?" he inquired, cocking an eyebrow.

"It's for you. It has vitamin C in it, and you know that flu season's coming around. You can't get miss any more days of school, Brother, or you'll never graduate."

Ed scoffed. "I could graduate right now if I wanted to."

"You still have to finish your English courses," Al reminded him, taking a seat opposite of his brother.

"Damn that subject… It's stupid and impractical," Ed muttered to himself, disdainfully accepting the glass and taking a sip. His face wrinkled and he frowned. "Ew, its sour!"

Al shook his head. "Drink it anyways." It was times like these when it was difficult to distinguish who the elder sibling was.

"Yes, _Mom,_" Ed sighed, rolling his eyes and complying. "Jeez, Al, you worry so much. Find someone else to be a mother hen to!"

"That's why I want a cat!"

Ed closed his eyes, sighing deeply. He hated saying it to his brother, but he knew he had to. "Alphonse, there's no way we'd ever be able to keep a cat. You and I leave too much, he'd be all alone for so long. And we barely have enough money to support just the two of us, and you don't even eat. Imagine if we had to pay for a cat too, and if the cat had kittens then—"

"I know, I know," Al interrupted, leaning heavily on the table. "I just wish, though…"

Edward watched his brother and sighed again. "I'm sorry, Al. Really."

The younger of the two merely nodded mutely.

There was silence between the two of them before Edward finally asked awkwardly, "So, what do you want to do today? Take a walk, spar?"

"Can we go for a walk, Brother?" Alphonse asked hopefully. "It's almost October, and I read in the paper it was going to be one of the last nice days for a while."

Ed grinned and nodded. "Lemme get changed," he said, standing and sauntering to his bedroom.

It was small and somewhat cluttered, full of books, papers, military reports, and laundry strewn about. Edward's philosophy had always been this: If it's clean, it isn't on the floor. And it worked.

He stepped over a stack of old history books and pulled out the top drawer of his bureau, grabbing a pair of denim pants and a long-sleeved, emerald green turtleneck. It was nice out, sure, but it was just chilly enough that he knew his automail would start reacting to it, as both limbs were schlock in every way, shape, and form. His boots would be fine, and nobody seemed to really care about his gloves.

In moments he had changed his outfit and reemerged into the kitchen. "Let's go," he said brightly, pulling on his boots.

Alphonse opened the door of the apartment, waiting for his brother to leave before him. "Can we stop by the park, too?"

"If you want."

"We can spar there, there's a lot of open space."

"Sounds good," Ed said. He couldn't help but grin at his younger brother as he watched the young boy alchemize the door shut with a chalk circle. Alchemy was something that he would never get tired of. "Ready?"

"Ready."

* * *

The autumn wind blew fiercely, causing Edward's hair to whip about, somewhat obstructing his vision. The afternoon sun shone down brightly upon them, making the pair appear as some kind of unapproachable gods; fiery amber eyes, a foreboding suit of armor, striding down the street as though it was their destiny to get a sandwich from a corner store.

"Pity that the city isn't this nice year round," Edward remarked, sighing and putting his hands behind his head. "Kinda reminds me of Risembool… Except for the fact that is smells like crap and there are too many god damn people."

Alphonse laughed. "I don't know about the smell part, but there sure are a lot of people! They don't really bother me much, though."

"People," Ed muttered darkly, kicking a rock. "I _hate_ people."

Al shook his head. "You're so strange."

"So? People don't like strange. I don't like people. And thus I am strange so I don't have to put up with their shit."

"Language, Brother," Alphonse reprimanded.

Edward pouted slightly and stared off at the buildings lining the street, his eyebrows furrowed. "Whatever."

"Edward!"

Both Elrics looked at each other in surprise, not expecting to be called by anyone.

"A girl's voice?" Alphonse asked, cocking his head. "Edward, did you… BROTHER!! TELL ME YOU DIDN'T!!"

"TELL YOU I DIDN'T WHAT?!" Ed roared back.

"YOU'VE STOLEN SOME YOUNG GIRL'S INNOCENCE!"

"WHAT THE HELL?! ALPHONSE! WHAT KIND OF PERSON DO YOU THINK I AM?!"

"YOU'RE MY BROTHER, THAT'S WHAT YOU ARE! YOU COULD BE A TOTAL WOMANIZER WHEN YOU'RE NOT HOME FOR ALL I KNOW!!"

"DO YOU THINK I'M REALLY AS BAD AS THAT BASTARD?! I ACTUALLY HAVE SOME RESPECT FOR WOMEN, AL! DON'T EVEN _THINK_ CRAP LIKE THAT!"

"Er… Edward?"

"What?!" he cried, spinning around and glaring at the person behind him.

It was Winry, eyebrow cocked and hand on her hip, the other holding the wrench she had already pummeled Edward with.

Edward blushed slightly. "Eh… Hi, Winry…"

"Winry?" Alphonse repeated quietly before realization dawned on him. "Oh, hello! You must be Brother's new mechanic! I'm Alphonse." He stuck out his hand.

Winry shook it. "Winry Rockbell. I guess you're his brother?"

"Yes, that's right."

"Nice to meet you!"

"What are you doing here, Winry?" Edward asked through clenched teeth.

"My grandmother's shop is right there," Winry said, pointing with her wrench to a store on the left side of the street, "and I happened to see you out here and wanted to come and say hi."

"You've said hi, now let's go," Edward muttered, looking at his taller younger brother.

"Don't be rude, Ed," Alphonse hissed, kicking his brother's automail leg gently.

Apparently it wasn't quite gently enough.

Something in the hydraulics and steel structure, a piece snapped and the leg bent, causing Edward to gasp at the sudden jolt of pain the wires were sending his nerves. He fell to the ground, flat on his rear, clutching the appendage with his eyes squinted shut as he tried to keep silent.

"You're leg's gone out," Winry stated simply, crouching beside him to appraise the damage. "Come on, I might as well start fitting you sooner than later."

"She's right," Alphonse deduced, gently lifting the eldest of the three and putting an arm around his waist so he wouldn't have to put weight on his bum leg.

"Isn't that Edward Elric?" a passing schoolgirl whispered to her friend.

"Yeah, and he's with the new girl!"

"Are they dating?"

"Urgh, lucky!"

"Who's the dude in the armor?"

Whispers erupted along the street as Alphonse helped Ed limp towards the shop.

"Erm… Winry, was it?" a girl asked, approaching the blonde.

Winry recognized her to be Meghan, Emerald and Trina's friend. "Yeah, that's me. What's up?"

"Um, what happened to Edward? Is he okay?"

"Sprained ankle," Winry lied smoothly. She hated lying, but she knew that Edward probably wouldn't appreciate her telling everyone about his metallic limbs.

"Oh, okay. Well, I just wanted to make sure it wasn't too bad. His fangirls would probably murder me," she said with a nervous laugh. "Thanks."

"Welcome. See you later, Meghan," Winry replied with a wave before following the brothers into the shop.

Alphonse had set his brother onto a chair in the corner, moving a few cardboard boxes full of old blueprints and sketches.

Edward grimaced as he began to pull off the shielding plate of his automail leg to examine the wires. "Just as I thought," he said quietly. "Tangled as hell."

"The hydraulics have totally failed, too, and the cheap metal is bent. What exactly do you do every day?" Winry exclaimed, examining the broken muscles and steel bones.

Ed shrugged. "Band… Sparring… Work… School… Nothing, really."

Alphonse had to hold back a laugh. "Nothing" his metallic foot! The life of a State Alchemist had Edward running in circles around himself. He was busier than all the higher-ups were together!

Winry didn't look like she believed him either, but said nothing about it. She silently pulled off Edward's shoe, measured his flesh-and-bone foot, and then began bustling about looking for parts and such. "We'll give you a pair of crutches," she told him briskly, searching through a chest of old drawers. "Until I can get your new leg on, you can say that you hurt your ankle in a cage fighting accident or something."

"And people will _buy_ that?"

"They should, I mean, you're one of the most popular guys in school. Girls will believe you no matter what, even if you tell them the sky is yellow, and guys won't really wanna get into a fight over something as stupid as how you really hurt yourself. Besides; your new limb will be done by Sunday evening," Winry assured him, pausing to beam in his direction.

Edward flushed a bit, but forced himself to ignore it. "And how are you going to make two new limbs in two days?" he asked.

"There's me and my gran. I'll pull as many all-nighters as I have to, and, push comes to shove, I'll give you a spare or something to wear till yours is done."

The blonde boy stared at her, his expression a mix of gratefulness, confusion, and amusement. "Really?"

"Damn straight, really!" Winry said with a laugh. "Don't worry about it."

"Thanks, then, I guess," Edward said somewhat begrudgingly as Alphonse headed to the back room to look for crutches.

* * *

The weekend seemed to drag on forever for a gimpy teenager, stuck watching "The A-Team" when he'd much rather be outside sparring or something of the like.

"Brother, it's six thirty. Do you wanna head over to Winry's shop to get your leg?" Alphonse asked, poking his helmet into the room from his bedroom where he'd been studying.

Edward grunted noncommittally.

"Edward…"

"Fine, fine, get me my crutches…"

After Edward had collected himself and managed to make sure he didn't look like a complete and total slob, the two exited the apartment, Alphonse's armor shining and well-oiled, Edward dressed in an old long-sleeved Central Red Stockings baseball shirt and a pair of blue checkered pajama pants, still wearing gloves.

It was quite a sight to see in the city of Central.

Winry Rockbell hoisted the leg of her newest customer onto the counter with a loud yawn, her jumpsuit tied around her waist, her black tube top still securely fastened over her chest.

It was getting late, she noted with a lazy glance at the clock. Edward should know that his leg would be done by now. She stifled another yawn and dropped onto the counter, her head flat on the marble top and her arms hanging off the other side. It was a really, _really_ stupid idea to try to pull two all-nighters in a row. A _ridiculously_ bad idea.

She stretched her stiff arms and heard a satisfying crack from her shoulders. She sighed in content as she rolled them back and yawned again. If Edward didn't get there soon, she'd fall asleep at the counter.

Edward… He was something else, Winry decided. He was well-put together in countenance, but underneath, she sensed that he was a very complicated person. While not the collected yet somewhat insensitive individual he appeared to be, she wondered if underneath it, he was as testy as he appeared to sometimes be. _Probably,_ she decided, yawning again.

The door opened, causing the small bell attached to ring obnoxiously. It was accompanied by a gleeful cry of, "Miss Winry, we're here!"

Winry looked up tiredly, seeing it was Alphonse Elric who spoke. He stood awkwardly in the shop, holding the door open for his temporarily handicapped brother. "Hey, guys," she managed before yawning for a third time.

"Hey," Edward said, nodding in acknowledgment.

"Your leg is ready for attachment, but you still have to use the crutches going home, alright?" Winry said sternly, standing straight and lifting the limb once more. "Otherwise people will suspect something if they see you."

Edward groaned as he crashed into a seat, holding out his broken automail expectantly. "Fine, fine. Whatever helps you sleep at night."

_You'd do nicely for that…_ Winry thought as she silently approached and rolled up his pant leg. She caught herself thinking such a horrible thing. _What the… Where did _that_ come from?! Ignore it, Winry, ignore it… You're sleep deprived, that's what you are! Deal with it later!_ She nodded to herself, making last minute adjustments and finally saying, "On the count of three. One… two…" She reattached the limb, not even bothering to say three.

"Damn it!" Edward hissed, his eyes shut tightly. "Ah! I thought you said _three_!"

"I lied," Winry told him with a grin, winking at him with one tired eye. "It works better if your muscles are relaxed. The nerves are more open to the leg and you'll get less, if any, cramp-ups."

"Thanks," Ed muttered, still grimacing as he lifted his new leg and wiggled the toes.

They responded as if they were flesh and blood.

"Nice," Alphonse remarked. "Brother, try walking!"

Edward gingerly stood up, then took a step forward with the new limb. He was in awe; it didn't creak, it didn't click and it was a hell of a lot lighter than the other leg he'd been equipped with. He took another step. It didn't cramp at all. Hell, it didn't even hurt! "This is incredible," he murmured quietly. "I can't remember the last time it wasn't painful to walk…"

The blonde mechanic grinned up at him blearily. "Like it?"

"Yeah, thanks."

"I'll get your arm measurements sometime later this week. Too tired right now."

"Tired?" Alphonse inquired, slightly confused. "But it's only…" He glanced at the clock. "Seven fifteen."

Edward examined her carefully. Her hair was slightly greasy and her eyelids were sagging, purple bags forming underneath. She was exhausted. "Leave her be, Al. We gotta get going anyway." He spoke deliberately, making it very clear that his brother was not to pry.

Winry smiled gratefully at him. "See you tomorrow, then?"

"Yeah. Bye, Winry."

* * *

"What was that about, Edward?" Alphonse asked as he watched his brother gimp up the stairs to their small apartment.

"What was what about?" Ed replied, one hand on his crutch, the other fumbling around his neck for his keys.

"Winry. You know why she was so tired so early, don't you?" Alphonse held the door open as his brother unlocked it and hobbled inside.

"Well, yeah. She was tired; she probably pulled an all-nighter just to get this done," Edward said, kicking with his left foot loosely as he dropped his crutches by the tiny linen closet in the front of the apartment. "I wouldn't be surprised if she wasn't in school tomorrow, she looked like she died and nobody told her."

"That's just mean," Al said with a chuckle.

"'S the truth," his brother replied bluntly, heading down the short hall to his room. "Night, Al!"

"G'night, Brother!"

* * *

**Gads, its long… Anyway, thank you for reading!**

**REVIEWING can fuel the soul. Just so you know.**

**--BANDGEEK--**


	3. Assignments

**Yo! Fullmetal High, third chapter! Whoot! :D**

**Firstly, I would like to give a HUUUUGE thank you to my beta, Skipper713. She has been a great help to me (whether she believes it or not) and I could not be more thankful to have her around. :3 If you all have a chance, you ought to read her stuff!!**

**Secondly, I would like to apologize. Updates on my FMA stuff have been speedy compared to my usual stuff, but that will probably change soon. My new semester starts this week and I need to really focus on my three difficult honors classes to keep my GPA up. Sorry, guys. But I promise I won't stop updating altogether!**

**Enjoy!**

"Winry? Wiiinryyyy?"

Winry's head jerked off of her case the next day in band. "Wuzzat?" she mumbled, rubbing her eye hastily with one hand, holding the other close to her chest, curling it into a fist.

Trina stood beside her with her hands on her hips, sighing. Today she donned a pink and black boat-neck top with a pair of faded jeans and what Winry had already, after three weeks of Central school, dubbed her "trademark" pink high-tops. Her alto hung from her neck strap and she had an eyebrow cocked behind her glasses. "Seriously, dude. Stay awake, would you? You still have to practice with low brass!"

Winry's brow furrowed as she looked up at her section leader blearily. "Low brass?"

"Yeah, you have to meet with the tubas. You're part of the bass line, now, kid."

"Tubas?" The mere thought of being a member of the Low Brass section scared Winry. They were a scary breed, the bass line players, and the young blonde was frightened to join their ranks.

"Yeah, you know, my boyfriend Josh, and Aaron, and Jen. The sousaphone players. They don't bite, don't worry about it."

"Who doesn't bite?" a baritone voice inquired and Winry smiled fondly as a tall young man with black hair and warm brown eyes slid his arms around Trina's hourglass figure, hugging her to him as he put his head over her shoulder.

"You and Aaron and Jen," Trina said. "Hey." She tilted her head back so as to peck Josh's cheek lightly.

"You smell nice," Josh said, swaying back and forth with her.

"Thank you," Trina replied, closing her eyes and letting him rock her. "You smell like the woods. You went camping this weekend, huh?" He nodded. "It's nice."

"I try."

She giggled.

Winry had to look away. It was so cute and adorable it was disgusting.

"So, Winry's gonna be working with you guys on the bass line," Trina declared, putting her hands atop of her boyfriend's as they rested on her stomach. "You gotta be nice, kay? Or else I'll sic the woodwinds on your brass ass."

Josh gave a mock sigh of defeat. "Finnnne," he whined before turning to Winry and bowing his head in mock reverence. "Prepare yourself, milady, for the insanity of the low brass section."

"Oh… Terrific…" Winry's mind went into overdrive. There wasn't a single girl in low brass, save Jen, who was absent that day and acted like a guy besides, and the young mechanic could only imagine how the idiots there would react to someone of the fairer sex.

"Don't worry. If they try anything, Josh has strict instructions to beat them to a pulp," Trina said with a snicker. She gave her boyfriend one last peck on the cheek before pulling out of his embrace, bidding them farewell and good luck as she approached the flautists, trying to ask their section leader about a rehearsal later on in the week.

"This way."

Josh led Winry to the back row of the band room where a large group of guys stood in a small circle, most of them with trombones plastered to their lips. They were all trying desperately to play "Land of a Thousand Dances," but only one of the freshmen could get it right.

"No, no, no!" the tallest of the group grouched loudly. "Get the rhythm right!"

"What _is_ the rhythm?" one of the freshmen asked tentatively.

"Read the music!" the tall trombone player hollered, causing the clarinets to look over in surprise. "What does the _music_ say, smartass?!"

"Taylor, just shut up," Josh sighed as he steered Winry into the center of the circle of men. "Guys, this is Winry. She's the bari sax player, so she gets to be bisectional."

"She's into girls _and_ guys?" one of the boys asked with a surprised laugh.

"Bi-_section-_al, not bi-_sex-_ual, moron," Josh said, whapping the other student upside the head with the palm of his hand. "Don't be a perv. I know that's hard, but really, dude, make an effort…"

The other guys chortled while the said moron blushed madly, suddenly becoming incredibly interested in his flip chart.

"Nice to meet you, Winry," Taylor said with a curt nod as the others murmured in agreement.

"And you guys."

"Alright, everyone, let's settle down and get to work!" Major Hughes' voice rang above all of the students noodling and chatting, causing them all to somehow find their seats and sit down.

"Remember, we have our first football game this Friday. That's two days away!" Hughes was suddenly very stern with his students. "Now, I know you all know the drill. We ran it half a million times during band camp, and then included Winry, who probably knows it better than half of you by now."

There were several laughs and shouts of complaints from the mellophone and euphonium players, but Hughes held up his hand and continued over them.

"I'm proud of you. Never before in school history has our band learned the whole drill in five days, so I think you guys have the potential to be better than ever," he said with a huge grin. "So let's do our best on Friday, everyone, and get to work! Take out part three of the show."

A whine of complaint emitted simultaneously from every alto and tenor saxophone player, and Winry smirked. This was the hardest part of the show for them, both drill-wise and musically, but she only had straight dotted quarters and eighths, which was easy enough to count and even simpler to play.

Hughes ran through the piece what seemed like a million times before half the band even got it right at all and Winry was almost dead of boredom in her seat before the bell finally rang.

When the harsh, shrill sound rang throughout the school, Winry packed up her bari, put it in her locker, and was halfway out the door when Major Hughes called, "Winry, could I talk to you for a second in my office?"

Winry let out a silent sigh before plastering on a smile and turning to face him. "Sure, Major. What's up?" She followed him into the tiny closet of an office and saw Edward standing up against the wall in there as well, glaring at the percussion instructor, Lt-Colonel Mustang who was typing away on his typewriter.

"Well, I'm taking my wife out to the theatre district this Saturday for our anniversary, but we need a babysitter for out little Elysia," Hughes explained, leaning on the desk. "Gracia thinks she might be a bit of a handful so she wanted me to hire two people to watch her, so I was wondering if you and Edward would be interested."

Winry smiled genuinely and answered, "Sure!" while Edward closed his eyes in frustration and said, "How much are you paying me, Hughes?"

"That's _Major_ Hughes while we're in school, Edward," Hughes said with a slight frown.

"Same rank, I'll call you what I want."

Hughes frowned for an extra second and then said, "I'll give you an A for the rest of the quarter and pay you twenty cenz."

"Deal." In all honest, Edward didn't really mind watching Elysia all that much. She was a sweet kid who was an absolute angel, exactly the way her father made her out to be. But he was short on cash, and whenever there was an opportunity to get money out of one of his friends, he took it. After all, someone had to pay for his automail, and the military certainly didn't care.

Winry watched this exchange with slight confusion. She didn't know what Edward meant by "same rank" but she figured it probably had something to do with his involvement in the military.

"Saturday night?" she asked to confirm. "What time?"

"We probably won't be back later than eleven, and I have reservations for five, so four thirty?" Hughes said, immediately switching demeanors.

"Four thirty. Got it."

Edward just nodded mutely.

"Thank you both so much!" Hughes cried and Winry just laughed.

"We'll be there."

* * *

"My God," Trina muttered, dumping her bag on the kitchen table inside the secluded house on the outskirts of town. "At last, I can take off this ridiculous outfit…"

"You're telling me," Emerald sighed, following suit and stretching. As she raised her arms and pulled her shoulders back, her petite body began to morph into that of a teenage boy with a belly shirt and skort of some kind as clothing. He shook long, dark green locks of hair out of his eyes and his pale face stretched into a malevolent smile, revealing long, perfectly pointed white teeth. "If I had to act like an airhead for much longer, then I think I might have killed someone."

Trina smirked. "Master would not have been pleased."

"Screw the Master, _I _would have enjoyed myself."

His companion sighed, freeing her hair from her scrunchie and letting it fall, covering her left eye with bangs and covering her back with thick, dark curls. "Fetch my dress, Envy. That will give you something to do."

The boy (Envy, was it?) rolled his eyes and meandered towards the hall closet.

Trina unlaced her sneakers and pulled off her skirt, revealing a tight black slip beneath her clothing. "Much appreciated."

"Screw you," Envy replied, returning with a long black dress on a hanger.

"Oh, you're welcome to, anytime you'd like," the girl laughed, removing her shirt and using it to wipe her face clean of the heavy makeup she'd worn all day. She took the dress from Envy and stepped into it, sliding it on over her slip.

"You have no decency, you know that, Lust?" Envy said, pulling himself up onto the table. "Besides, no matter how much I want to fuck you, you know that Greed would try to kill me. And dying is such a pain."

The woman called Lust laughed coldly. "He might claim he loves me. But he's not a human. He isn't _Josh._ He's Greed. One woman isn't enough for him. He's slept around, Envy. And so I can do whatever the hell I want."

Envy laughed. "Greed wouldn't agree to that."

"Shut up," Lust instructed. "Get my shoes; Master is expecting a report from us tonight."

Envy cocked his head. "A report? On what?"

"On Fullmetal, obviously."

"Fucking pipsqueak," Envy cursed.

"Enough. You can plot his death later. For now, we wait. Like vultures," Lust said darkly with a twisted smile.

"Waiting for the kill," Envy finished with a grin.

* * *

**Okay, end of the chapter! It's kinda short, yeah. I didn't mean for that to happen… I wanted to get in that bit with the homunculi in at the end… But I didn't want to go on, because the Elysia bit will be long…**

**Thank you for reading! Stick around for the next chapter: Edward and Winry babysit Elysia! Yaaay!**

**Much love to all my readers,  
--BANDGEEK—**


	4. Elysia

**Ecch. I know, it took forever. My bad! This was supposed to be ready for Valentines Day (and the English premiere of Brotherhood on Adult Swim!! EEE!!!) but I had a tad bit of what I like to call "scheduling overload", which means that my time was limited.**

**I want to give a big shoutout to **Skipper713**, who has been a fantastic beta reader. She has helped soooo much, and I want to thank her IMMENSELY for that. :3 You people ought to read her stuff if you like "Digimon" (Ten years later, and I'm still a die-hard "Adventure" fan...)**

**This was one of my favorite things to write :) Elysia and Edward are adorable when they interact. I'm going by the anime for this little bit, but I imagine that, if Edward was around when Elysia was born, they'd probably be close, especially since in _this _story, he lives in Central.**

**Enjoy! I don't own, you don't sue!****Chapter Four: Elysia**

* * *

Saturday night rolled around quickly and Edward soon found himself treading down the streets of Central, thoroughly exhausted from working his second job all day and from the football game the previous evening. He was still in his work clothes and had not been home since he'd left at nine that morning. _Al will worry… Oh, well, I'll be fine and he knows it. Besides… He has the Hughes' number and if he needs me he'll call me._

The blonde yawned as he meandered onto a quiet side street where the Hughes residence stood. Finally. He hated walking cross-city to get places. _Maybe I should invest in a car…Nah._

He made his way up the steps and banged on the door with his flesh hand. "Hughes, I'm here," he called.

"Coming!" the military-man-turned-band-teacher shouted.

The front door creaked open and Edward saw a small girl, no older than four, stare up at him through the crack. Her face broke into a huge grin and she screamed, "Big brother Ed!"

"Hey, Elysia," he said, crouching down to her height. "How've you been?"

"Good," she sang, opening the door wide enough for her to run to hug him. "I missed you!"

"Missed you too, kiddo," he said, standing up and lifting her with him. "You've grown!"

"Mommy says its cuz I eat lotsa veggies and drink lotsa milk."

Edward grimaced for an instant before grinning again. "And its working!"

"Daddy says if I don't drink milk, I'll only be as tall as you!"

Edward twitched. "Your dad doesn't know what he's saying."

"Daddy's the smartest!"

"No, he's not," Edward insisted, smiling at Elysia. "Trust me."

She looked confused for a second, then grinned. "Okay!"

"Good girl."

"And what lies have you been feeding my daughter now?" Hughes asked with a chortle as he appeared in the doorway, holding the door open for Edward to step through.

"No lies, Hughes, just the truth," Ed grinned.

"Ed never tells lies," Elysia defended, as well. "He says that only stupid people lie."

"Well, he's right," Gracia said, appearing behind her husband. "Hello, Edward,"

"Hi, Mrs. Hughes," Edward said with a smile. "Nice to see you."

"You, too. Did you come from work?"

"Yeah, I got off at four and practically ran here so you could leave on time."

Gracia laughed. "Thank you, Edward. You know you could have been a little late, it wouldn't really have mattered."

"Not a chance," he said. "I couldn't miss out on seeing my baby sister could I?" The blonde teenager's face lit up as he made a face at Elysia, making her giggle uncontrollably.

"Come in and we'll shut the door, it's chilly out," Hughes said, gently pushing Edward, still holding Elysia, out of the way so he could shut the door.

"Major Hughes! Waaaaait!"

It was Winry who shouted and in the street lamps and dying sunlight of the city's day, it was very clear that it was her running from the end of the street.

"Hurry up, Winry!" Hughes shouted good-naturedly. "We're waiting on you!"

She looked horrified for a second, and then began pumping her arms harder. "I'm comiiiing!"

"Hello," Gracia called.

"Hi," Winry said breathlessly, stumbling up the front steps. "I'm… I'm Winry Rockbell."

"Gracia Hughes," Gracia said with a gracious smile. "And this is Elysia."

Elysia peeked out from Edward's shoulder and waved.

"It's nice to meet you, Mrs. Hughes. Hi, Elysia," Winry said with a huge smile, turning her attention to the strawberry blonde that Edward was holding. "I'm Winry!"

"I'm Elysia," the little girl said with a shy smile.

"How old are you?" Winry asked, moving aside so Major Hughes could shut the door.

Elysia thought about it for a moment, and then held up four fingers. "I'm four!"

"Four? You're practically a grown-up!" Winry cried and Elysia giggled.

"This is my big brother Edward," she said, tugging on Ed's braid.

"I know, I go to school with him," Winry said with a smile.

"He made me some dollies! You wanna see?"

"I'd love to."

Elysia squirmed in Ed's arms and he let her down carefully, as though she might break. The little girl tore off towards the opposite end of the front hall and made her way ninja-fast up the stairs, yelling "I'll be right back!"

"She's so cute!" both Winry and Major Hughes exclaimed at the same time, causing Ed to roll his eyes and Gracia to laugh.

"The number of the restaurant is on the counter in the kitchen, Ed knows all the emergency numbers," Gracia said. "Her bed time is seven thirty, you can both help yourself to the food in the fridge and to the television. And no matter _what_ Elysia says, she is _not_ allowed to have any soda of any kind. Milk, water, or juice with dinner. And she likes the hall light on when she sleeps, door open, and—"

"Ms. Gracia, relax," Edward said with a slight chuckle. "I've done this before!"

Mrs. Hughes blushed slightly. "Oh, I know. I just… I just get so nervous…"

"Don't be," Winry assured her. "Whatever comes our way, I know we can handle it."

"And we don't doubt you," Hughes said with a grin, slinging an arm around his wife's shoulders. "Now, if we don't leave soon, we'll be late. Elysia, come give Daddy and Mommy hugs before we leave!" he called.

Seconds later, Elysia's face appeared at the landing. "You're going already?" She ran down the stairs and across the hardwood floors, latching on to her father's leg. "But I don't want you to go yet!"

"We have to, honey. But I'm sure that you'll have lots of fun with Edward and Winry," Hughes said, lifting his daughter up into his arms and planting a kiss on her forehead. "We'll be back later tonight and we'll be here when you wake up in the morning."

"So you're not going away for a long time?" Elysia asked hopefully.

"No, we're not," Gracia assured her, taking her from her father and kissing both of her cheeks. "We'll be back soon."

"Okay, Momma," she said, grinning. She kissed her mother's cheek and said, "I love you!" before squirming out of her mother's grasp and running back up the stairs. "Let me get my dollies!"

"Be good," Hughes called, opening the door for his wife and leaving. "And Ed, Winry, call us if there's any trouble."

"Yes, sir," Edward said, mock saluting his friend and band instructor.

"_Behave_ you two," Gracia said with a small hint of a smirk. "Goodbye now!"

And with that, the door shut, leaving Edward and Winry standing slightly aghast in the front hall of the Hughes residence.

_Behave?!_

Winry finally regained her head again and turned to Edward. "So… nice suit."

Edward blushed slightly, realizing he was still wearing his suit from the country club, where he worked weekends as a waiter in their high-class restaurant. "Yeah… Right. I just came from work…"

"Uh-huh."

"And I didn't have time to change."

"Uh-huh."

Winry stared at him for another minute before shrugging and heading towards the stairs, where Elysia was struggling with an armful of rag dolls. "Whatever."

Edward stared after her for a moment, temporarily shocked, then shook his head. _Well… At least she didn't push it. Though she's acting like she knows that this isn't my only job… But… How would she know that? It's not like they let anyone without proper ID into that fight a couple weeks ago… But…Could she have snuck in somehow? Damn it, what if this gets out…?!_

"Ed, come play with us!" Elysia cried and snapped her "brother" out of his reverie.

He grinned at her. "Yeah, coming!" He approached the stairs, pulling off his suit jacket and hanging it on the banister. "Who am I going to be today?"

"You can be Prince Alphonse," Elysia said, shoving a blonde doll at him. "I'm going to be the Princess and Winry is going to be Lady Rose."

Edward took the doll with a small smile. "Fair enough."

The two high-schoolers entertained the preschooler with the dolls for a full forty-five minutes before the small girl declared she was hungry.

"If you're hungry, then we should go make something to eat," Winry said, standing up from her seat on the staircase. "What do you guys have around the house?"

"I dunno," Elysia said.

"Then let's go check it out. When we've decided what to make, you can put your dolls away while we cook," Edward reasoned.

"Kay!" The little girl beamed. She stood up and ran down the stairs, banged a right, and ran through the door leading to what Hughes and his wife referred to as "the phone room", as it held only a single, solitary telephone.

Edward pulled himself up, his automail hissing and his natural knee cracking satisfactorily. "Coming?" he asked Winry, extending a hand to her.

She took it, realizing with a small sense of happiness that it was his automail hand, crafted by her. "Yeah, thanks." Together, the two descended down the remaining stairs and followed after Elysia to the kitchen.

The tiny girl was struggling to open the locked door to the pantry and Edward smiled, unlatching it and letting her in. She bounded to one of the counters and somehow managed to climb up onto it, opening the cabinet doors above her in a search for a box of spaghetti. Upon finding it, she cried out gleefully and threw it at Edward, who just barely managed to catch it before it whacked him in the head. "Spag-et-ee and meatballs!" she cried, beaming up at Winry and holding her arms out. "Up!"

Winry laughed and complied, holding the four-year-old on her hip. "Spaghetti and meatballs, huh? Do you have any meat?"

"In the 'fridger." The little girl struggled with the word "refrigerator", causing Winry to internally gush with "aww, she's so cute!"

"Alrighty, then," Winry said with a grin. "Spaghetti and meatballs it is!"

Edward groaned. "Oh, great. More work for me."

"Shut up and get the meat, metalhead."

Edward scoffed slightly, but did as he was told.

The two teenagers worked to cook the meal to Elysia's satisfaction as said child sat on the tabletop and instructed them to the best of her knowledge. Once the pasta was finally cooking and the meatballs were in the oven, Elysia decided to take off into the playroom off of the kitchen and bang on the piano for a while.

"Do you know how to play?" Winry asked from the stove, peering in the doorway.

"No. But Ed says that he'll teach me when I'm older!" She smiled a toothy grin and went back to pounding on the keys.

"You play piano, Edward? Since when?" Winry was surprised. Edward didn't seem the type to like music too much. It was a surprise to her that he was even in band.

"Yeah, since I got my automail arm initially," he replied, leaning on the doorframe and supervising Elysia. "It was mandatory so that I could work up finger dexterity and flexibility with my hand."

"Ah." It made enough sense now. After all, Winry had her patients do similar things to build up their agility in their hands.

"Do you still play? Like, at home and stuff?" she asked, stirring the pasta absently.

"Yeah, when I get a chance. Times like that are kinda rare, I'm usually busy."

Winry smiled. "I know what you mean."

"Ed, play something for me!" Elysia cried, sliding off of the bench and running to her "brother". She tugged on his pant leg. "Please?"

Ed gave a mock sigh of defeat. "Oh, fine," he said with a smirk playing at his lips. "Which song do you want to hear?"

"I wanna hear… Um… Uh… I wanna hear the Beef-oven one!" she decided, leading the blonde to the stool and trying to force him down.

"_Beethoven,_" Edward instructed, trying not to laugh at the little girl's mispronunciation.

"Beeth-oven?"

"Yeah, that."

"Play! Play! Play!"

Edward grinned and placed his fingers to they keys, playing a piece that Winry knew in passing, but not too well.

His hands danced across the keys elegantly and his guarded expression changed drastically, giving way to a serene smile that lit up his golden eyes, causing them to do a sprightly jig. He seemed to be another person, except he was the same. It was a curious and beautiful thing.

When he finished, the flame in his eyes flickered and died and a short-lived expression of sorrow crossed his features. The age that had escaped his expression returned and a sort of cynical smile replaced the honest one that had held Winry's heart just moments ago.

There was a silence in the room for a minute before Edward finally said, "We'd better make sure that we don't burn something. Elysia, why don't you go put away your dolls?"

"Kay," Elysia said brightly, blissfully unaware of the tension, confusion, and sadness that stifled the atmosphere around her, and bounded out of the room.

"You play beautifully," Winry said, turning back to face the stove beside the door and clicking the burner to "off".

"Thanks." He was silent as he stood, stepped past her, and opened the oven, taking out the meatballs and slowly depositing them into a waiting bowl before taking the now-empty tray to the pantry, where the cast-iron sink was waiting full of hot, sudsy water.

Winry dumped half of the jar of spaghetti sauce onto the meatballs and covered it again, frowning slightly. As she placed the jar and the bowl of meat onto the table, her mind wandered to that look that Edward had on his face as he finished the piece on the pianoforte. Why did it make him so upset?

"Ready for dinner!" Elysia sang, bouncing back into the kitchen.

"Alright, then, kiddo, go wash your hands in the bathroom and we're all set," Edward said, reentering the kitchen, wiping his mismatched hands on a dishcloth he'd found someplace or another. His smile was back on his face, startling Winry ever so slightly, until she realized that it wasn't entirely genuine.

Winry shook the thoughts from her mind, reaching into the cabinet for three bowls and proceeded to fill them with food. "Alright. Here we go, Elysia, say when!" She started spooning spaghetti into the bowl, followed by a very precisely dictated amount of meatballs.

Elysia picked up a fork from the table and sat down, happily eating the pasta with vigor.

"Hey, hey, slow down," Edward instructed gently. "Don't make yourself sick or choke or something."

Elysia giggled and nodded, slowing down as she was instructed.

Winry spooned a generous amount of food into a bowl and handed it to Edward. "Here," she said, nodding for him to take it.

"Thanks, looks good," he said, taking the bowl and sitting at the head of the table. He picked up a fork and greedily dug into the delicious-smelling Aerugeoen food.

"Welcome," Winry replied, serving herself some supper and sitting down opposite Elysia.

The rest of the evening passed fairly quickly. Elysia had insisted on Edward playing a little bit more piano for her, and then insisted that Winry read her a story.

The young girl was tuckered out by her bedtime and Edward, noticing this, scooped her up. "Hey, kiddo, what do you say to heading upstairs? It's almost your bedtime."

"But I'm not tired," she protested with a yawn.

"That's alright, Elysia. We should still get into our pajamas now, huh?" Winry said kindly, following Ed and Elysia up the stairs.

"Okay," she agreed, her eyelids drooping.

Edward set the little girl down on the bed and left, saying that he was going to make sure the doors and such were locked while Winry dressed the little girl for bed.

"Come back when you're done!" Elysia had shouted after the alchemist.

"I will, don't worry," Ed said with a huge, childish grin.

"Good."

As soon as Edward had returned to tuck her in, Elysia was nearly asleep.

"Night, Brother," she mumbled.

"G'night, Elysia," he murmured and Winry saw the same quiet smile he'd worn while he'd played piano earlier.

"I love you, Ed," she said.

"Love you too, kiddo," he said just quietly enough that Winry had to strain to understand it. He placed a gentle kiss on her head and as he returned to stand next to Winry in the doorway, a gentle sense of serenity had settled over the room.

"She's sweet," Winry said quietly.

"Yeah. The little sister I never got. She's really a cute kid," Edward said with a gentle sigh, leaning up against the doorframe.

There was a serene pause and for an instant, but only an instant, Edward felt a sense of family, as though he and Winry were a couple just putting their daughter to bed.

_No_, he thought, shaking the idea from his mind. _Not until I keep my promise._

"Let's head back down," Winry said quietly, turning to leave. "I'm going to get a move on with my World History homework."

Edward nodded silently, trekking down the stairs after Winry.

As he turned right and headed back towards the kitchen and playroom, Winry went back to the winter parlor at the front of the house and dug her homework out of the bag she'd brought to the Hughes' with her.

It was at least a full forty-five minutes before she heard the faint playing of piano. Without really meaning to, Winry stood and followed the sound to see Edward in the playroom, playing a piece that she didn't know as if he and the piano were the only two things in the world.

She stood silently, watching him play. The only light came from a dim lamp atop the piano itself, casting a warm but slightly ethereal glow over the entire room. The piece was slow, gentle, written in C sharp minor and full of rubato. It was a difficult etude; Winry could tell that much from watching his fingers labor over the notes. The dynamics never went higher than a mezzo-forte, a medium loud, giving it the sense of a poem or a lullaby. Rain poured softly out the window now and Winry wished she could take a snapshot of that one moment and engrain it into her mind forever and always.

It took the blonde mechanic a few minutes to realize that the rain outside wasn't the only falling water; Edward's shoulders were shaking, giving the impression that he might have been crying.

She walked towards him, putting her hand on his shoulder and startling him.

Edward stopped playing and looked up with wide eyes. There was extra moisture in them; he had been trying not to let the tears fall.

"Are you alright?" she asked him quietly.

He slowly nodded silently.

"Really." She obviously didn't believe him.

"Yeah," he said quietly.

"Alright," she responded, kneeling next to the piano bench. "…what piece was that?"

"An etude by Chopin, Opus 10 Number 3. A lot of times it's referred to as the 'Parting Song' or 'Song of Parting' or something." Edward's amber eyes stayed trained on the black and white keys of the old brown upright. "It was… It was my mom's favorite piece."

Winry suddenly wished she hadn't said anything.

"I made myself learn it… To make her proud, y'know? I mean… She played a lot when I was younger. We sold the piano when I turned eight to pay for her doctor's bills, but… This was always her favorite piece. She would play records of it a lot at night; it was how she taught my brother and me how to dance with one of our neighbors. She told me once that it was the song she and my dad danced to at their wedding." His automail clicked as his fists clenched tightly on his knees.

"I'm sorry. It must have been… It must have been hard." She gently leaned her head against his flesh arm from her seat on the floor, startling him slightly.

"Yeah," he muttered.

She closed her eyes and reached up, wrapping her arms around one of his, ignoring the violent blush that took over his features.

There was silence for a long while until Edward finally said, "Thanks, Winry."

She smiled and rubbed her face into his arm. "Mm."

It was quiet, serene, and somewhere, in the back of their memories, the Chopin etude played as two young children danced across an old, hardwood floor in an old, country farmhouse with a young brunette woman and a tall blonde man looking on fondly. For some reason, both teenagers found the other's presence strangely comforting.

Edward Gavroche Elric felt entirely at peace for the first time in a long, long while.

* * *

_Yeah, it's kinda filler-y, but I think that its important, especially for the Edward and Winry interaction._

_And I know its different from canon!Edo. But, as my wonderful beta has told me, its to be expected since this is an ALTERNATE UNIVERSE fic. The smallest differences in experiences can change a person._

**Alright. HERE'S A CHANCE TO MAKE AN APPEARANCE IN THIS STORY!**  
If you can guess where the name "Gavroche" (what I've decided Edward's middle name is) comes from, then you can have ONE original character make an appearance in this story! If you guess correctly in a review, I'll message you and ask for stats.

_Thank you for reading!_

_---BANDGEEK---_


	5. Goodbyes

**Hey, what do you know, its chapter five! This focuses a little more on Rose, as well as the homunculi a little bit. Fun, fun, fun! :D**

**I've decided that this will be mangaverse based. And since it will *HOPEFULLY* be done long before this will be, there should be no spoilers because I'm sure all of you loverly people will have read it by the end of this fic. …maybe.**

**I don't own, you don't sue. Get it? Got it? Good.

* * *

**

3 June 2010:

_I don't know how many of you are reading this that know me personally (maybe... four people...?) but if you don't, I just recently had a close friend pass away. He was a high school student, like myself, and actually lived right up the street from me. Words cannot express how much I will miss him now that he's gone._

_This chapter is dedicated fully to him._

_Chase, I don't know where you are right now, but I'd like to believe that you're hanging out with Jesus and laughing at my stupid little mistakes, like you always did. Did you realize that I went through a whole box of tissues today? Singing at your wake was the hardest thing I've ever had to do. I think its the hardest thing I will ever have to do, as well. Don't drink too much Monster up in heaven, alright? You know how much I hate that habit of yours. Don't forget about us, kay? We all miss you-Deuce and Werewolf wrote songs for you. I sang at your wake today, did you hear me? I love you and I want you to know that everyone else does too. We miss you. Rest in peace._

****

* * *

Chapter Five: Goodbye, Kain.

* * *

"Every day, the same routine," Envy sighed, shutting his eyes and rolling his head around to crack his neck. "I don't understand why we have to do this."

"Because," his companion, Lust, replied boredly, "our master has told us to. To keep an eye on Fullmetal."

"This sucks," a man decided, dropping into a vacant seat beside Lust. "Hey, babe."

"Greed."

Said homunculus grinned widely, showing a long row of slightly sharpened teeth. "Nice to see you, Lust. Looking good, as usual."

"Shut up, you bastard," Envy growled, picking up the glass of water before him and taking a long sip.

"Missed you last night. Don't know why we can't stay in one place together," the sly homunculus purred into Lust's ear.

"Because we're on a mission, Greed. You're Joshua Richardson and I'm Katerina Wilkins. We can't stay in the same place," she said in reply. "Besides. You have plenty of whores to keep you busy."

"I don't _want_ whores," he whined, wrapping his arms around her. "I want _you_!"

"There's a first, Greed not wanting free sex," Envy scoffed.

"Yeah, well, there's a first time for everything."

"You're being childish, Greed," Lust reprimanded him, picking at the salad in front of her. "There's no need for you to be such a… such a _teenager_."

"But, babe, we are teenagers now," Greed reminded her.

"Wish I wasn't. Going through this once was pain enough. I hate doing it _twice_," Lust muttered.

Envy said nothing about this.

"Well, either way, we're going through it. Might as well enjoy it, act the part, hm?" Greed said with a smirk.

"Leave the lady alone, would you?" Envy muttered, poking a mound of potato with his fork. "Jesus Christ, is this even edible?"

"I dunno, never tried it." Greed lifted a soda to his lips and took a long sip. "So what is this Jesus Christ you keep talking about?"

"Nothing important," Envy hissed, suddenly wishing he hadn't opened his mouth. "Did the Master want to see us tonight or do I have the evening off?"

"We're not needed tonight. Master wants to talk to Gluttony and Sloth alone, apparently."

"Thank God, I was wondering when Gluttony would leave me alone. Maybe Master will finally put him in his place," Lust sighed with a small smile.

"Has that creep been harassing you again?" Greed demanded, suddenly fierce.

"No, Greed," Lust sighed again in annoyance. "But _you_ are. So if you don't mind, I'm going to leave now." And with that, she stood up, tossed her plate in the trash barrel, and marched out of the lunchroom with her long curls swaying behind her.

"She's hot," Envy remarked simply, then turned back to his meal.

"Lay a hand on her and I'll kill you again."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever, Tuba Boy."

Greed glared at his fellow homunculus. His older "brother" was _such_ a bastard.

* * *

Kain Masterson was a very ordinary person. He was tall and broad-shouldered with long, straight brown hair and tan skin, like Rose, and blue eyes. He had a fondness for old black-and-white films and for the culture of the country of Ingary (a place far to the west of Creta, an island country).

And he and Rose were very much in love.

He was a good person, kind and honest, great with children, especially. He had a full ride to a prestigious university, a school in Ingary (coincidentally) called Wales.

So Rose was shocked and distraught when he was snatched away so fast.

It was an accident. He had been driving home one night after a late-night study session with some friends and had been hit by some sixteen year old who thought he was the shit because he got wasted.

It was too fast, too soon.

Rose remembered the officer calling the apartment, the fear she had felt rising up in her stomach finally realized. It was an awful, awful thing to wake up to in the morning.

The day had run by in a blur. If you asked her, she probably wouldn't be able to tell you half of it. When Winry stopped by that evening to study, she was shocked and amazed to see Rose in such a destitute state.

"Hey, hon…" the blonde said cautiously when a disheveled Rose yanked open the door. Her books were held slackly in her arms and she was perplexed at the brunette's puffy brown eyes and red, tear-stained cheeks. "What happened?"

Rose bit her lip and started crying again, suddenly reaching forward and grabbing Winry's shoulders. Her sobs shook her whole body violently as her wails were muffled only by the country girl's shoulder.

Winry was slightly taken aback by Rose's sudden bout of tears, but gently led her into the apartment, kicking the door shut behind her. "Hey, now," she murmured, guiding her to the couch and sitting beside her. "Come on. It's okay."

"No, it's not!" Rose wailed. "It's not okay! It's awful! He's dead!"

"Speak slowly. Calm down! Who's dead?" Winry asked softly.

"Kain! Kain, he's dead! He died last night! That fucking driver killed him! He's fucking dead and he isn't coming back, Winry!" Rose sobbed, gripping the blonde's shoulders tightly, still not looking her in the face.

Winry froze in her spot. "Dead?" she whispered, shocked. There was no way. Kain couldn't be dead. He was such a wonderful person, he was so kind and nice and loving to Rose, he was a hard worker and… He just couldn't. Kain, the same kid who would feed her licorice every morning in A-block. Kain, the very boy who had always lent out lunch money to freshman who had theirs taken by upperclassmen. Kain, who had loved Rose like nothing else in the world, was engaged to the brunette, was already working to support her. No, no, there had to be a mistake. He wasn't _dead_. There was no way.

"They called… they called this morning," Rose said through her tears, easing her grip on Winry slightly. "He was hit last night by some dick driving drunk…"

Winry did her best to comfort the Liorean girl while trying to figure out exactly what was happening. There was too much at once.

"The super says that I can stay here for a while longer, but then I need to find a place to stay. I may end up just going home to Liore," Rose said, her sobs subsiding.

"Back to Liore?" Winry choked out.

Rose nodded. "I have some old family friends there… I can make a living for myself, probably finish high school there."

"What about your parents?"

"Dead, too." Rose had suddenly become very quiet.

Winry watched her carefully for a moment, then stood and pulled her onto her feet, forgetting the schoolbooks she had brought along. "Come on, babe. You're coming over to stay at my place tonight. I only have one maintenance appointment tonight. After that we're going to have a girls' night."

"And that's supposed to help?" Rose spat.

"No. It's just to remind you that I'm your friend and I'll help you through anything, alright? Especially this. Now come on, don't bother packing clothes or anything. Let's go."

Rose was silent as Winry led her out of the apartment, pausing only to lock the door behind her. She followed the blonde to the lot outside the apartment complex and to a large, clunky red van that had definitely seen better days. The inside was dull beige cloth and sported a large pair of white and black dice that hung from the rearview mirror. The radio was covered in glittery nail polish and the backseat was littered with empty cups of coffee, old mechanic's catalogues, and the occasional tool or bolt.

Rose silently climbed into the passenger seat of the large van as Winry hopped into the driver's seat and started the engine. It purred happily as the lithe mechanic shoved the van into gear and pulled out of the parking space, heading off down the street.

"Where'd you get the van?" Rose asked quietly, trying her hardest to think about anything but Kain.

"Some old guy who wanted me and Gran to scrap it for parts. I asked him if I could just keep it, and he said that I could if I fixed it myself." She smirked, flicking on the radio with one hand. "I don't think he knew who he was dealing with."

Rose managed a small smile at the blonde's adventures in mechanics. "I see."

"He was so impressed, he gave me the van and gave me the money for a new stereo system," she said, nodding to the radio, which had been tuned to a tiny alternative station and was playing some song by the Cure.

"Nice."

"It's got a cassette player built in. You up for some Bananarama?" Winry's hand dived into the small case of cassettes beside her and pulled out one at random, checked it, then pushed it into the cassette player.

Rose smiled, sniffling slightly. Bananarama was one of her favorite bands. "Thanks, Winry."

She waved and snorted. "Dude, it's nothing."

The brunette was quiet again and the two rode in a companionable silence back to Winry's grandmother's shop.

"My last customer's got an appointment at seven thirty," Winry said as she parked the car out front. "It usually doesn't last long, but this guy seems to bust his automail every other day, so it might take longer than usual. Sorry, but I might end up having to ask you to hang out upstairs at my apartment while he's here. He's very private about his prosthetics."

Rose nodded, her eyes still puffy, but otherwise feeling much better having spent her entire afternoon bawling her eyes out. She sniffed loudly and clambered out of the vehicle.

Winry stood at the front of the hood, waiting. As Rose approached, she wrapped one arm around the brunette's shoulder and guided her inside. "Come on, babe," she said. "Let's get you some dinner."

Rose nodded silently.

By the time seven fifteen rolled around, Rose had let herself go through another bout of sobs and wails and had eaten some of Pinako Rockbell's stew, which could help heal anything, the old lady said, including a broken heart. Rose would never admit it, but it felt nice to have something home cooked. It did, in fact, seem to help a little bit.

Winry glanced up at the clock as she finished off the last of her stew and laughed a little. "Oh, jeez. I'd better wrap some of this stuff up for them…" she murmured to herself.

"For who?" Rose asked.

The blonde looked at her, slightly surprised for a minute, then realized what her friend was asking. "Oh. Ah, for my customer. He never actually eats anything that's edible, he's the type who lives off of take out and TV dinners. So whenever he comes here, we give him something to take home with him and his brother."

Rose nodded quietly.

"I'll be back up in about a half hour, forty five minutes or so. You're welcome to anything, like, books, the TV, whatever. Help yourself." And with that, Winry gave her a quick smile and left.

* * *

The door of the mechanic shop swung open, then shut, and two pairs of feet strode in from the chilly fall evening.

"Hello," said the taller, Alphonse Elric.

"I'm here for a tune-up, Grease Monkey!" the smaller, Edward Elric, said with a grin and a joking attitude.

"Alright then, midget. You know the drill," Winry said, smirking back.

"I'M NOT A MIDGET!" Ed yelped.

The blonde girl laughed good-naturedly and meandered to the opposite side of the room to fetch her toolbox. "Just take off your shirt and I promise we'll be done in no time."

"Yeah, yeah," the blond boy said grumpily. He shrugged off the black leather jacket he was wearing and lifted the black tank top underneath as well, revealing his rather well- toned chest.

Winry bit the inside of her cheek as she willed herself to ignore it. _Just a customer, just a customer, just a customer…_ she thought, rummaging through her toolbox to find her gloves.

"How have you been, Winry?" Alphonse asked politely, taking a seat by the door. Despite the fact that he looked like he could easily rip someone apart, Winry found that that the boy in the armor was surprisingly polite and fairly docile, the exact antithesis of his brother.

"Good, thanks," she said with a smile, pulling her leather gloves on and digging for a wrench. "And yourself?"

"I've been good, too, thank you."

Winry smiled wider. For a sophomore, he was far too polite. _Whatever happened to the loud, obnoxious, I-want-to-get-into-upperclassmen-girls'-pants sophomores?_ Not that she was complaining. It was a welcome change. "That's good. Anything interesting going on?"

"Just trying to keep Brother from blowing something up, like usual. I swear, if I didn't know better, I'd say he was a pyromaniac or something. He just loves causing trouble." Alphonse snickered a little bit at this.

"I don't like causing trouble and I'm not a pyro! Don't even compare me to that damn stupid drummer lieutenant colonel with his snarky remarks and bad haircut!" Edward yelped loudly, glaring at the suit of armor his brother donned.

Alphonse just laughed harder.

"Al!" Ed cried, holding out the "l" in his brother's name. "You're supposed to be on my side and just _shut up!_"

Winry sighed, rolling her eyes at the elder of the two. "Jeez, Edward. Why can't you be more like your brother?"

"What? Winry, you're taking his side, too?" Edward whined loudly.

"Of course I am, he's not the one being really obnoxious, now is he?" Winry said simply, lightly bopping him on the head with her fist as she sat down next to him. "Now hold out your arm and let me take a look." Ignoring Edward's whining and protests, she unscrewed the protective plates on his arm and closely examined the hydraulics, suspension, and artificial nerves inside of the metal appendage. "Well, looks like you didn't get much of a chance to bust it up this week."

Edward "harrumphed" loudly. "Course I didn't. I'm not _that_ bad about my automail."

"Could have fooled us," Alphonse and Winry said simultaneously.

"What? I ought to deck you both across the face for that!" Ed cried.

"You know that you wouldn't be able to," Alphonse said with a small chuckle, causing Winry to nod in agreement.

Edward sputtered as he tried to find a decent comeback, but settled for giving his brother and Winry alternating dirty glares. "Evil, evil children," he muttered under his breath.

There was a few quiet moments of Winry working on Edward's arm, then leg, and some quiet talk between the two brothers of matters which Winry had no clue about, until suddenly, Rose threw the door from the apartment to the workshop open. "Winry, may I—" she began, then gasped and fell silent upon seeing who Winry's client was. "Edward Elric?" she murmured with wide eyes.

Ed's eyes widened as well and he said nothing, but looked at Winry with an accusing glare.

"Hi, Rose, did you need something?" Winry asked politely, ignoring the glare that the blond next to her was giving and ignoring the nervous noises Alphonse was making.

"I-I was just wondering if I could use your cassette player…" Rose said quietly, still gawking at Edward's automail. "I-I'm sorry, Edward, if you don't want me to, I promise I won't say a word, I swear it…"

"Yeah, that'd be nice," Ed said bitterly, not looking at the brunette. "Just forget you ever saw this, alright?"

"O-okay."

"Thank you, Rose," Alphonse piped up, having picked the name up from the conversation he'd just witnessed.

"Y-you're wel-welcome," Rose stuttered before turning and fleeing back to the apartment.

Edward groaned. Damn, if this got out, he'd be a mess.

Rose kept her word. She never uttered a word to any of her friends about it and avoided Edward like the plague.

Actually, scratch that. Rose avoided _everyone_ like the plague.

Kain's funeral came and passed within a week and Rose suddenly seemed to be an introvert. She had finished off the semester in silence before moving back to Liore, telling few people about it. To most students, she seemed to simply fade away into the history of their high-school careers. Nothing more.

Winry was shocked and appalled when she spotted Rose leaving after C-block on a Thursday afternoon in November.

"Where are you going?" the blonde demanded, running after her and grabbing her by the arm. "Are you leaving?"

Rose nodded quietly.

"You can't leave! It's November! The school year just barely started!"

"I can't pay my rent," she said quietly. "The super wants me out."

Winry looked aghast. "So stay with Gran and me!"

"I just… I can't," Rose sighed, looking away at a spot of tile in the corner. "I need to go back to Liore. Central… I just can't stay here any longer."

Winry knew there was no point in arguing. She gave Rose a hurt look and turned away sluggishly. "Fine," she said. "Call me once in a while."

The brunette nodded silently and turned away, heading towards her previous destination.

That was the last Winry would see of her in a long while.

* * *

"Brother, did you finish that essay for English?"

Edward rolled onto his back and looked up to the doorway of his bedroom. "Yeah, Al. I'm going to hand it in tomorrow."

"Do you promise?" the younger asked.

"Obviously, I don't want to fail," the blond prodigy snapped, then rolled back over onto his stomach. "Leave me alone."

"Did you finish your chemistry assignment?"

"Yes, Al."

"And your research paper?"

"_Yes_, Al."

"And your—"

"Alphonse, I finished all my damn work! Let me sleep!"

The boy in the armor gasped and took a small step back, obviously not expecting the outburst from his elder brother. He wondered what had set him off—a bad day at school? Or maybe his automail? It was wet and chilly out, so his ports _had_ to be aching. Not even the automail geniuses in Rush Valley had been able to figure out a painkiller for achy limbs. "Sorry, Ed. I'll leave your supper on the table when its finished."

The blond grunted in response.

Alphonse carefully backed out of the room, closing the door behind him, before heading back to the tiny kitchen to finish cooking.

The fourteen-year-old flipped the dial on the radio to "on" and cranked up the volume as R.E.M. blared from the staticky speakers. Al frowned as he tried to figure out a way to fix the static; every time he tried, it did absolutely nothing. Normally, he wouldn't let it bother him, but the fuzzy sound was really starting to annoy him.

As he bustled around the tiny kitchen, Alphonse hummed along to the song. Though he wasn't usually a big fan of the band in question, he found he rather enjoyed that particular song.

It took forty-five minutes, but at some point while the younger was cooking, the elder Elric's nose finally managed to sniff out the succulent scent of frying food.

Edward tromped to the kitchen, rubbing his sleepy eyes with his flesh hand. "Hey, Al," he slurred tiredly, walking up to the large suit of armor and peeking over his shoulder. "…that meat?" he asked, looking up at his brother questioningly.

"Yes, but—Ed, don't!—Brother, what—? Hey! Urgh, you moron!"

Edward had reached into the skillet with his metal, unfeeling hand, and picked up a piece of cooking pastrami. He popped it into his mouth and grinned.

"Ed, you pig," Alphonse sighed. "Go set yourself a place at the table and get out whatever chips you want. This'll be done in a minute or two."

"Sure," Edward replied happily, obeying his brother.

Alphonse quickly finished cooking the hot meat and dropped a few thick slices onto a waiting roll. "Cheese and mustard?"

"Please," Edward said, rummaging through the pile of books on the couch in the next living… area over.

Al nodded noisily and finished his brother's meal, then placed it on the table. "You're all set, Ed."

"Thanks a million, Al. Smells good."

Alphonse felt a pang of sadness; the last time he'd tasted pastrami was when he was nine years old. He could barely remember it anymore.

Halfway into his sandwich, something occurred to Edward. He looked up from his book and said to his brother, "The second you get your body back, I'll be the one cooking you dinner like this, alright? Pastrami, lasagna, burritos, whatever you decide you want. That's a promise."

Alphonse would have smiled if he could. "Thanks, Brother."

* * *

A month passed. New Years was almost upon them, but neither of the Elric brothers noticed, nor did they care. The Saturday before winter break was to start, Edward had been called to Central Headquarters of the Amestrian military.

After all, Edward _was_ a State Alchemist, the rarest and most esteemed members of the military, and _did_ have to answer when summoned.

He returned home that day with a grin on his face and a devious gleam in your eye.

Alphonse, who had kept himself occupied watching television, looked up. "Did something good happen?"

"Pack your bags and buy us some train tickets to Liore, Al," Edward said. "We've got ourselves a lead."

* * *

**Chapter six is on its way! Jeez, this will take a while to write, as I have to re-read the first few chapters of the manga and figure out how to semi-modernize it.**

**Just because Rose knows about Ed's automail, doesn't mean she knows the whole story! ;D**

**Reviews are, as always, appreciated.  
**

**Thank you for reading!  
**


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